Medical specialists praised a potential breakthrough in handling the COVID-19 virus, an experimental antiviral medication created by Merck & Co. According to the data, the Merck pill can reduce death rate or hospitalisation for the high risk, severely ill Covid 19 patients.
Molnupiravir, which is meant to create faults into the virus’s genomic code, would be the first oral antiviral drug for COVID-19 if it receives approval.
Merck and its partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics said that they want to apply for emergency use authorization in the United States as soon as possible, as well as regulatory approvals around the world.
“An oral antiviral that can have such a significant influence on hospitalisation risk would be game-changing,” said Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.
Gilead Sciences Inc’s injected antiviral remdesivir and generic steroid dexamethasone are the two current therapy options, both of which are normally only administered after a patient has already been hospitalised.
“This will shift the conversation about how to handle COVID-19,” Merck CEO Robert Davis told the media.
‘Existing treatments are ineffective and administrating it is time-consuming and logistically difficult. A simple oral pill, on the other hand, would be the polar opposite, ‘ Adalja added.
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